BBC reports this morning that as of Sunday, Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency (PHA) is now confirming 90 cases – with another 179 probable – in what has already become Northern Ireland’s worst ever E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.

In August, four confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 were identified among customers who had eaten in Flicks. It is reported that the August outbreak strain is different than the present outbreak strain.

The PHA said the four cases in August were investigated thoroughly at the time and all tests on the restaurant were negative. The agency said that over the following six weeks, there were no further cases linked to the restaurant until it was notified of the latest outbreak in October.